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Season 2
The end of Season One left Forever Knight in limbo; and it was over a year before the show returned to the air. When it did, there had been some changes. Most obvious to fans was the transfer of Nick Knight and his partner Don Schanke from the 27th Precinct to the 96th. From a production perspective, this entailed casting a new actor, Natsuko Ohama, to play Amanda Cohen, the Captain of the 96th Precinct; and building a new set to represent the police station. Construction had not finished when filming began; and corridors leading into the main set continued to be built behind doors that, initially, had to be filmed as closed. As well, a completely new set was built for the Raven, Janette's nightclub (which had previously been filmed on location); the set for the morgue was extended to include a cold storage room; a set was built to represent Natalie Lambert's apartment; and, partway into the season, a small set was built for LaCroix's broadcast booth at CERK Radio. For several early episodes, there were also actors hired in recurring supporting roles: Sandi Ross returned as Natalie's assistant, Grace Balthazar; and Earl Pastko was added as Miklos, a bartender at the Raven. Rather less obvious was a minor consequence of storing props during the long hiatus: the display of art that, in Season One, had decorated the walls of the set representing Nick's loft was, for the most part, never rehung (and, if replaced, not necessarily in the same location). Instead, many pieces were simply stacked against the walls. Similar minor alterations happened in redressing other sets. It seems originally to have been the intention to start broadcasting Season Two in late March, 1994. This can be seen from the following dates, which are fixed internally: * In the premiere of Season Two, “Killer Instinct”, the Internal Affairs detectives specifically question Nick about his whereabouts on March 5th and 17th, presumably the dates of the two murders. * The denouement of “Forward Into the Past” takes place on May 3rd. The date appears on the poster advertising the dance at the Ceilidh Arts Centre. * In the backstory to the main plot of “Unreality TV”, Natalie's god daughter, Cynthia, was abducted on May 12th: the date appears on the Missing Persons poster that was printed to aid in the search. * The events of the episode “Father's Day” obviously take place in the week leading up to the holiday, which is the third Sunday in June. In the event, Season Two did not actually air until the autumn: "Killer Instinct" aired 17 September 1994. By that time, most of the episodes had already been filmed (as is obvious from the green foliage of trees in the background). Because of the delay, episodes were released markedly out of order to a degree not normally possible. “Father's Day” was actually shown 29 October 1994, no doubt puzzling many viewers, since episodes relating to holidays tend to be shown in the week prior to the celebration. In fact, Season Two did have a seasonal episode, “Be My Valentine”. As a Valentine's Day episode, it was broadcast—as one might expect—in the week of the holiday, specifically on 11 February 1995. This made it the 15th episode of the season in airing order; but it was, in fact, one of the last episodes to be made that year, 23 out of 26. (Filming actually wrapped on 7 December 1994.)This information comes from an Omni online interview with Nigel Bennett (http://www.blackhatstation.com/Interviews/omni.htm). The different airing and production orders complicates any attempt to summarize Season Two. If there was any original intent to shape the flow of the season, it was obviously disrupted by the radically different order in which viewers actually saw the show. Contrariwise, in so far as viewers perceived an overall pattern, that had perforce to be based at the time on the broadcast order. Subsequent reruns of Forever Knight have, however, tended to show episodes in production order. Season Summary In the Season Two premiere, "Killer Instinct", Nick is framed for murder and taken into custody. Eventually, he learns that this is a plot by his old master, LaCroix, who survived Nick's attempt to kill him (in the series premiere, "Dark Knight") and has returned to force him to submit to his authority as Nick's master. LaCroix is trying to force Nick to abandon his life in Toronto. However, Nick resists successfully. Still, LaCroix does not give up all hope of persuading Nick back to the vampire community. Two episodes later, in "Stranger than Fiction", LaCroix insists that Nick kill a writer of vampire stories who is too close to the truth. In the following episode, "Bad Blood", LaCroix and Janette trick Nick into the Raven just before dawn in the hope that he will be unable to save a vampire hunter from being killed by Jack the Ripper. In each case, Nick succeeds in finding an alternative. A couple of episodes later, LaCroix turns to a different ploy. "Capital Offense" marks his return to the role of on-air broadcaster that he had affected in "Dark Knight". As "the Nightcrawler", a late-night host on CERK Radio, he punctuates the rest of Season Two with monologues, most of them aimed directly at Nick, who persists in tuning in to listen to the show to the disgust of Schanke and Natalie. Shortly thereafter, the conclusion of "Father's Day" suggests a rapprochement, as Nick gives LaCroix an engraved watch as a present. Thereafter, the relationship between the two men—though never easy—indicates both a truce in the present, and a measure of appreciation on Nick's part of the strength of LaCroix's emotional bond with him. Towards the end of the season, in episodes like "Baby, Baby" and "A More Permanent Hell", the relationship takes a more positive turn, though it always remains tense. With LaCroix available for scenes in the present day, his role in the series increased. Hitherto, Janette had been Nick's primary contact with the vampire community; and she still served as a neutral liaison between him and his master. However, her role perforce shifted to accommodate the presence of LaCroix. Midseason, the hints that Janette and Nick had once been more than simply vampire siblings/friends begin to strengthen. The flashback in "Near Death" demonstrates that her initial romantic interest in Nick in 1228 (described in Season One in "Dance by the Light of the Moon") was more than simply a way to entangle him with LaCroix; and the flashback in "Partners of the Month" reveals that they had been lovers for almost a century in the Renaissance. Indeed, their romantic relationship continues even into the present: in "Crazy Love", Nick passionately turns to Janette when aroused by the case he is working on. So, it is not surprising that, in the dream episode, "Curiouser and Curiouser", Nick sees himself married to Janette—and transforms his relationship with Natalie into an illicit affaire. Indeed, for much of the season, Natalie's role remains essentially that of colleague, friend, and confidant, just as it had been through most of Season One. She continues, especially in the early episodes, to exhort Nick to refrain from drinking blood; and in one episode she cooks him a meal (which, inevitably, he fails to eat). In "Killer Instinct", he uses the sunbed in the loft; and, in "Be My Valentine", he takes Vitamin A pills for his skin. That Natalie is striving still to find a cure for Nick's condition is, therefore, a recurrent theme throughout Season Two. It appears most prominently in "The Fix", an episode towards the end of the season in which Natalie discovers that a newly developed drug, lidovuterine-B, has a radical effect on the symptoms of vampirism. Briefly, Nick is able to eat solid food and go out in full sunlight, until the side-effects prove too risky to continue. Broadcast mid-season (but made towards the end of filming), "Be My Valentine" is a potentially pivotal episode in developing Nick's relationship with Natalie: they finally admit their love for one another. However, LaCroix's intervention leaves it dubious whether she retains any memory of the events of Valentine's Day. Besides ongoing character development, Season Two has a number of episodes devoted to expanding the characters' backstory. Early on, "A Fate Worse than Death" describes how Janette had become a vampire, while the late episode, "A More Permanent Hell", does the same for LaCroix. "Near Death" provides more detail about Nick's transformation, especially the strange experience that he had while lying unconscious on the border of life and death; "Queen of Harps" provides a rare glimpse into his mortal life; and "Be My Valentine" shows him returning to his family shortly after being brought across, as well as further enriching the characterization of LaCroix by introducing his abortive love for Nick's sister, Fleur. There is also some expansion of our knowledge of vampires and their community, albeit never with any consistency. "Bad Blood" shows that a man who had been attacked and almost brought over—though saved—nevertheless retains a sensitivity to daylight and the presence of vampires. It also reveals that Jack the Ripper was a vampire. "Forward Into the Past" introduces Aristotle, the community's go-to guy for new identities when they move on. "A More Permanent Hell", besides revealing that LaCroix had been brought across by his daughter, Divia, also suggests the existence of at least one ancient vampire, who was her master. "Baby, Baby" demonstrates that Nick is not the only vampire wanting a cure: his "daughter" Serena is, in her own way, just as keen in pursuit of mortality. We also learn that Nick is immune to psychotropic drugs ("Faithful Followers"); even a poison such as curare has little effect ("The Code"). Nevertheless, for all the fascinating vampire lore, the principal focus of most episodes remained the police plot. Forever Knight was a cop show with a difference; but Nick still had murder mysteries to solve, and his "difference" was often merely employed as a means to that end. His new boss, Captain Cohen, remained enigmatic; her character was never fully developed. His partner, on the other hand, was integral to every episode. As in Season One, Schanke remained a foil for the more flamboyant character of Nick. Season Two had no clear finale. Indeed, the last episode filmed, "Blood Money", was not broadcast last, but rather aired closer to mid-season. The last episode broadcast, "Crazy Love" had been filmed exactly half-way through the season. Forever Knight ended its second season equivocally; and the question then became whether it would return for a third year, and be brought to a satisfying conclusion. Episode List This list presents the episodes in production order (i.e., the order in which they were filmed). It should be noted that the order in which they were originally aired often varies markedly. Fan Critiques *danaknight.com * Marc Wallace * Forever Knight Episode Guide * LaCountess' Forever Knight Haven On-Line DVD Critiques * DVD Verdict Review See also *Season 2 Body Count *Special Effects References Category:Seasons *Season 2 Category:Season Two